With the announcement by the Federal.government of it’s resolve to stop funding Professional Bodies/Councils in Nigeria from 2024 budget many of such bodies have started looking for means of survival.
Professional bodies are institutions established for regulatory purposes. They decide, maintain and regulate the ethics of practice and conduct of professionals in their profession.
Almost all the professions in Nigeria have regulatory bodies and some have been running on government’s budgetary allocation.
Below is the list of some affected bodies;
-Optometrists and dispensing optician board
-Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAN)
-Chartered Institute of Administration (CIA)
-Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)
-Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON)
-Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN)
-Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN)
-Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN)
-Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA)
-Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM)
-Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS)
-National Teacher’s’ Institute (NTI)
-Radiographers registration board of Nigeria (RRBN)
-Nursing and midwifery council of Nigeria (NMCN)
-Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN)
-Medical laboratory science council of Nigeria (MLSCN)
-Nigerian council of food science and technology (NCFT).
-Health record officers registration board of Nigeria (HRORBN)
-Medical rehabilitation therapist board of Nigeria (MRTB)
-Community Health Practitioner Registration Board of Nigeria (CHPRBN)
,-Institute of Chartered Chemist of Nigeria (ICCON)
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-Dental therapists registration board of Nigeria (DTRN,)
-There are many more, some even with overlapping functions and duplications.
FG to stop funding of professional bodies
This is in line with FG’s plan to cut expenses and free up spaces in their financial for better service delivery.
The members or professionals under these bodied should expect hike in their registration fees, license renewal fees, fines, and other charges from 1/1/ 2024 to enable the bodies carry out their operations accordingly. The bodies will now have to be more accountable than before because of how strict they will make things for their members who will in turn expect accountability and transparency.
The negative cons of this is that the bodies will now focus more on revenue generation than their statutory mandate of regulation which will affect the standards of practice for their members and result to substandard dispensation. And this may likely affect the standards of service delivery across the professions in the country due to improper appraisal and regulation of the professionals.
Another money saving or cost transfer (Capitalistic) policy. Such policies are good for the government and bad for the people. And their advantages and disadvantages are determined only by the beneficiaries and/or victims.
